A Timeline of Infinite Skies is an installation and sound work by artist duo Antonio Jose Guzman and Iva Jankovic, co-presented with Brighton Festival 2026.

We encourage you to both listen to the sound work and explore the sculptural textile installation, immersing yourself in the two elements of this multi-layered, richly complex exhibition. Weaving together these two experiences encourages a deeper perception of the work and enriches the underlying theme that informs it.

This thematic starting point, explored by the artists, connects two largely forgotten legacies: the deeply rooted abolitionist movement in Brighton and Hove, and the many iconic parts of the city built with wealth generated by the plantation slavery system, predominantly in the Caribbean.

The installation features Guzman and Jankovic’s signature indigo-patterned textiles. You are encouraged to move through and around the structures, where you will discover images and texts which further illuminate the underlying ideas. Two realities are equally present. Firstly, that the histories of indigo and indigo dyeing have a troubling connection to enslavement in the USA, and to extractive practices in India, where traditional artisanal production was destroyed in the pursuit of higher yield and greater wealth for colonists.  Secondly, mindful of these complex histories and narratives, the artist duo work directly with a studio in Gujarat, India who practice Ajrakh block printing and are regenerating and reclaiming traditional methods.

The soundscape that plays alongside the installation intertwines material from a range of mainly Jamaican sources, including Jamaican Maroons, descended from African enslaved people who liberated themselves and started communities of free Black people in the mountainous interior of the island. Through music, documentary, lectures and works by spoken-word artists. the sound works reflect on poetics, the history of slavery and Maroon cultural practices, such as Nine-Night, a funerary ritual which honours the dead and invokes the ancestors.

Alongside its exploration of darker histories, the exhibition is also a celebration of the transnational and cross-cultural power of textiles, pattern and music.

A Timeline of Infinite Skies is the second in a series of exhibitions for 2026 curated under the theme of Future Histories. This theme encourages us to explore the ways in which the past continues to inform, configure, and sometimes overshadow the present. It equally asks us to consider how our actions in the present will shape the history of tomorrow. It acknowledges that we are not only reflecting on history but also writing it.

Laurence Hill, Curator

Artists’ Bio

Antonio Jose Guzman and Iva Jankovic have worked together for more than ten years as the collective Messengers of the Sun, a nod to musician Sun Ra’s Afrofuturist mythologies.

Their work also draws on the writing of Paul Gilroy in his book The Black Atlantic, which theorises a Black Atlantic culture transcending ethnicity or nationality.

Selected exhibitions: the Liverpool Biennial, INIVA, the Barbican, Art Basel, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Havana Biennial, Art Rotterdam, the TextielMuseum in Tilburg, Amsterdam Museum, MAC Museum of Contemporary Art in Panama, HKW in Berlin, the Serpentine Galleries in London and Tate Liverpool.

They are currently representing Panama at the 2026 Venice Biennial.

They live and work in the Netherlands.

Preview

Join us for the preview of A Timeline of Infinite Skies on 1 May, 6-8pm. There will be short speeches at 7pm with BSL interpretation by Dr Sue MacLaine

This exhibition is produced in partnership with Brighton Festival

Family workshop – Saturday 6 June, 11am to 1pm (drop-in)

Image: Bernard G Mills